Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Wenvoe Quarry (ST 131 741)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height and its position confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR summit image of Wenvoe Quarry (ST 131 741)

The criteria for the two listings that this name change applies to are:

100m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 100m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Bro Morgannwg group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C2), and it is positioned with a number of A roads encircling it with the A4232 to its north and east, the A4050 to its west and the A4055 further to its south-east, and has the city of Caerdydd (Cardiff) towards the north-east.

  

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under a partly transposed and invented name of Wenvoe Top, with an accompanying note stating; Name from quarry at summit. 

Wenvoe Top

115c

ST132742

171

151

Name from quarry at summit

During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to either invent a name for a hill, or use a name that appeared near to the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  My preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance transpose the name of a quarry and add the word Top to it.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

The ground comprising the summit of this hill is a part of the Wenvoe Quarry and for listing purposes this name is considered appropriate for that of the hill.  This name appears in its plural form on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Wenvoe Quarry, and this was derived from contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps and online research which names the quarry in a singular and not necessarily plural form.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Bro Morgannwg

Name:  Wenvoe Quarry

Previously Listed Name:  Wenvoe Top

 

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  123.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 13189 74189 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  66m (spot height)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 12669 74393 (spot height) 

Drop:  57m (LIDAR summit and spot height bwlch)

Dominance:  46.51% (LIDAR summit and spot height bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (October 2019)